The internet has been flooded with chilling tales of an organised underground dog fighting ring operating out of Perth's suburbs.

Family pets have been systematically stolen from their yards to be trained as fighting dogs, according to reports appearing on social media and online classified websites this week.

While many in Perth claim to know somebody who knows somebody whose pet has fallen prey to a kidnapping, authorities and social media experts have dismissed the warnings as a viral hoax.

An ad on Gumtree warns against advertising pets for free.

"No suburb is safe," reads one popular flyer doing the rounds on Facebook and Google+ this week.

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Larger breeds would be starved and tormented into brutal fighters, while their smaller counterparts would be used as "bait", according to another popular Facebook post.

An image warning people of a system, in which red squares were put outside homes to alert canine thieves to a potential candidate, was uploaded to Facebook and shared more than 9000 times on Tuesday.

A photo shared on social media is captioned: “These red symbols are tags that people stealing Perth dogs are putting on your gates/fences. These tags identify which house has a dog that needs to be collected later that day/night.”

"These red symbols are tags that people stealing Perth dogs are putting on your gates/fences," the post read.

"These tags identify which house has a dog that needs to be collected later that day/night by these disgusting creatures.

"Be vigilant!"

An advertisement posted on the online classifieds website Gumtree on Wednesday also warned of listing pets online for free, because, according to the Osborne Park woman who posted the warning, they were unlikely to go to a good home.

"There is currently an organised dog fighting ring in Perth," the woman wrote.

"Stealing dogs from backyards north and south of the river!! Free dogs will be taken by them!! They are also stealing and collecting free cats guinea pigs and rabbits to use as bait to entice fighting!

"Please don't advertise as free!!"

But animal welfare authorities in Perth, who have been inundated with phone calls since the messages started to appear about two weeks ago, said the warnings were "completely unfounded" on Wednesday.

"It's a viral hoax," RSPCA spokesman Tim Mayne told Fairfax Media. "Police and the RSPCA have no solid evidence on this at all.

"We've been monitoring this situation for the last week and a half and still, to the best of our knowledge, it's a viral hoax."

He said there had been various dog fighting hoaxes spreading around the world in recent years.

Curtin University internet studies lecturer and social media expert Tama Leaver said the lack of specific details in the messages was a dead giveaway for a viral hoax.

"If people were really trying to stop something there would be specific details about it and who they could contact," he said.

He said the messages were so vague they had managed to cover "the entire spectrum of Perth".

"If something like that is appearing for two weeks and there's no official information released whatsoever – there's no police follow up – and there's no evidence of an actual fight, you'd have to question it," he said.

"To go from dog missing to dog fight is a long bow."

Mr Leaver said viral hoaxes were the "downside" of social media, which had become a great source of quick but "rarely verified" information.

We tend to be more gullible online, he said. "Unfortunately our instinct to verify information online is very low."

Online hoaxes tended to be motivated by money or individuals who are "just trying to get a rise," Mr Leaver said.

Then there were those who believe they're teaching the world a lesson by testing how far unverified information could reach, he said.

Once the message found an audience like animal lovers or pet owners, the heavy lifting was done for the pranksters, Mr Leaver said.

"Things will circulate because you do have some people who believe the police lie and will want to keep saying this is true," he said.

"Look at something like climate change: all the science says this happens, but there are still people online saying it is a lie," he said.

While Mr Leaver said he was "99 per cent certain" the message was a hoax, Murdoch University cyber forensics and information security lecturer Richard Boddington said there was still a remote chance somebody out there had tried to send a real warning to pet owners.

But Mr Boddington also warned there could be a follow up message in the coming weeks asking concerned residents to donate money to stop the dog fighting they've all heard so much about.

8 comments

I dont know about the stealing, but I do know with a relatively high certitude that dog fighting rings are thriving, and involve all sorts of professional interactions from a wide variety of partipants,And the betting is large,in cash and blackmarket.Iused to breed Ridgie Bull Mastiff ,s and was always on guard for the nice little "nurse" usually ,who was looking for a gift for her boyfriend.You could see they would be looking in a distict way ,and it was so common I stopped breeding altogether.But Il played devils advocate and got all the confirmation from several suspects first,and yes it is big because that was quite a longtime ago,and Police also confirmed,and I have never heard of a single ring being busted.

Commenter

Lane

Location

adamson888@clubtelco.com

Date and time

February 20, 2013, 7:59PM

I dont think anyone is arguing that there's not dog-fighting, but rather that the breathless, panicky "warnings" are untrue, like most are on social media.

Commenter

Patrick F

Date and time

February 20, 2013, 10:11PM

These hoax messages are an absolute menace. In some cases, the falsehoods contained in them are downright dangerous. Yet, far too many people are willing to believe any sensational claims they encounter, not to mention anything that seemingly confirms their own prejudices. From my own experience I know that there are too many people who clearly have nothing better to do with their time than to indiscriminately disseminate this garbage. We would all be much better off if such people would engage their faculties before clicking "share", and if necessary, consult one of the many websites devoted to debunking inaccurate viral messages (ie most of them).

Commenter

BugsyPal

Location

Perth

Date and time

February 20, 2013, 9:29PM

A friend of mine had someone attempt to snatch his big dog from his yard and the park he goes to, a lot of dog owners have had their dogs stolen. I would like to know if this story is real?

Commenter

undefined

Date and time

February 20, 2013, 9:38PM

So if its not for dog fighting, what is with the increase in dog stealing in Perth of late? My family and friends have been victims of this in recent weeks and the culprits who are stealing the dogs are not selecting any one or few type of dog breeds, it is anything they can get. My family witnessed it with their own eyes when their border collie was taken and dumped miles from home once they realised she was an old dog. I think further investigation into this needs to take place, especially when the vets across Perth are seeing several cases daily!

Commenter

bexta

Location

Perth

Date and time

February 20, 2013, 10:27PM

Pet theft is certainly an interesting issue - and one we look at in further detail in our latest article.

According to "pet detectives" data at least one pet goes missing from each suburb every day, nation-wide.

No, this is real, although the 'red tag' on the fence, etc, is wrong. These people have been around for years and only get publicised occasionally, as is happening at the moment.

To find from where to later steal animals, the gangs send out their younger associates, teenage kids, on their bicycles just riding around to make up lists.They will then typically get dogs or other animals by putting them into a van as mentioned, but usually a courier or enclosed builders vehicle that they own and use for everyday work.

Everyone has a phone camera these days; if you see something suspicious, get a photo !

Commenter

SubiDogOwner

Date and time

February 21, 2013, 12:31PM

I love that the comments mirror the article in lack of specifity and their hoax characteristics. Vets across Perth, a lot of dog owners etc. Come on, be specific or go home or call yourself a troll and be done with it.